Tommy Scafidi interviewed by Dave Schratwieser

[chin_gigante]

https://philly-prime-podcast.simplecast ... podcast-21



They make a point of not identifying Scafidi by name but you can tell it's him. Some notes:

- John Stanfa tried to do things the right way when he became boss (having the low-key mentality of an old-timer) but was hindered by the fact that he did not know the players and did not know what was happening on the street
- Stanfa knew the names of the 'obvious' members of the Ciancaglini-Merlino crew and knew their families but did not have much first-hand knowledge of them beyond that
- Stanfa came in at a bad time and there was too much chaos for him to do an effective job
- Because of the conflict with the Ciancaglini-Merlino crew, Stanfa was desperate to have bodies around him and recruited the wrong people
- People like Ronald Previte and John Veasey would never have been around guys in the past
- The guys who were under Stanfa respected him but they did not think things through when they were sent to carry out orders
- An old-timer once told Scafidi that if he cannot go through with a hit '110%' he should just walk away
- Wives like Brenda Colletti should never have been involved in what was going on
- Sergio Battaglia and Herbert Keller wanted notoriety and publicity, were trying to be something they weren't and should have stuck to selling cars
- Leon Lanzilotta should never have been shot
- The attempted murder of Joseph Stanfa on the Schuylkill Expressway should have never gone down the way it did
- There was no reason to kill Frank Baldino
- Baldino was a hang-around guy who wanted to play cards and screw around with women
- Baldino had no skin in the game in terms of making money
- Anthony Piccolo was a respectful old-timer who hated the limelight
- Piccolo did not want to be hugged and kissed on the street and would not got to street corners and other hang-outs
- Vincent Pagano was a good guy who had been around for a long time and made a mistake in getting back involved under Stanfa
- Luigi Tripodi was a gentleman and old-timer who followed Stanfa because he was from Italy
- Tripodi was a businessman rather than a gangster and he also hated the limelight
- If Stanfa had five or six good guys around him he had the potential to have stayed on the street for a lot longer than he did

[IrishDave]

That was interesting, thanks for posting!

Stanfa was never the offical Boss? I though NY pushed for Stana to take over. Didn't Amuso say that he only acknowledged Scarfo as Boss? That might explain his position, if a Boss truly does rule for life.

[slimshady_007]

Great interview

[chin_gigante]

That was interesting, thanks for posting!

Stanfa was never the offical Boss? I though NY pushed for Stana to take over. Didn't Amuso say that he only acknowledged Scarfo as Boss? That might explain his position, if a Boss truly does rule for life.

I suppose the question of whether Stanfa's position as boss was official or not might end up more academic in nature than anything.

Scafidi definitely does describe Stanfa explicitly as the acting boss at one point in this interview, with the belief that he was picked by Piccolo with Scarfo's blessing. However, there isn't anything else to suggest that Stanfa's people considered him to only be the acting boss of the family. Certainly, it does not appear that Scarfo was considered to be above Stanfa during the 1990s and there isn't any indication that any other families (except, perhaps, the Lucheses) recognised Scarfo as the official boss after early 1991, when Stanfa is said to have officially taken over. The situation therefore might be closer to a Joseph Magliocco or Antonio Pollina deal, where an individual is placed in charge of a family awaiting formal approval by the Commission. However, the Commission in the early 1990s is a very different beast to the Commission of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

It's clear that the rival faction in the family didn't really consider Stanfa to be a legitimate boss. Natale considered himself the unofficial boss before he was even made, and Merlino was going around saying that he was the underboss and Michael Ciancaglini the boss by 1993. The Gambinos and Genoveses supported Natale for boss when he got out of prison (with it initially being incorrectly suspected that the Genoveses inducted him in 1994), and he later met with the Colombos, so that doesn't stack up well in Stanfa's case in terms of support and recognition from the other families. But at the same time, who really knows what would have happened if Stanfa was still on the street when Natale and Merlino got out. By the time they took over, Stanfa was looking at going away for the rest of his life and there really wasn't anyone else on the street who looked posed to take a leadership position (apart from Ronald Turchi briefly attempting to be named boss).

For all intents and purposes, Stanfa was the boss of the family in the early 1990s while the Commission was not in the same state as it was previously when it would firmly and clearly decide whether to recognise an interim boss as official rappresentante or tell a guy to get lost and pick someone else. This recognition business though is a tricky subject and I'll end my thoughts here rather than risk treading into territory that I'm less informed about.

[Pogo The Clown]

Interesting subject as I hadn't considered it before. Stanfa did sit down with Sal Profaci of the Colombos in 1991. GA also wrote how Stanfa took over with the support of the Gambinos. We have DiLeornardo saying that the Gambinos stopped recognizing Philly because they inducted a Cop (Previte in 1993) which implies that they had been recognizing them before that. But who knows how they viewed Stanfa himself.


Pogo

[IrishDave]

That was interesting, thanks for posting!

Stanfa was never the offical Boss? I though NY pushed for Stana to take over. Didn't Amuso say that he only acknowledged Scarfo as Boss? That might explain his position, if a Boss truly does rule for life.

It's clear that the rival faction in the family didn't really consider Stanfa to be a legitimate boss. Natale considered himself the unofficial boss before he was even made, and Merlino was going around saying that he was the underboss and Michael Ciancaglini the boss by 1993. The Gambinos and Genoveses supported Natale for boss when he got out of prison (with it initially being incorrectly suspected that the Genoveses inducted him in 1994), and he later met with the Colombos, so that doesn't stack up well in Stanfa's case in terms of support and recognition from the other families. But at the same time, who really knows what would have happened if Stanfa was still on the street when Natale and Merlino got out. By the time they took over, Stanfa was looking at going away for the rest of his life and there really wasn't anyone else on the street who looked posed to take a leadership position (apart from Ronald Turchi briefly attempting to be named boss).

Thanks! That makes a lot of sense.

It's interesting that Natale had support from the Genovese family. I wonder who he was close to in order go get there support.

[chin_gigante]

Having checked back at my notes, the consensus from law enforcement sources appears to be that Stanfa became boss with the backing of Anthony Piccolo and the approval of the Gambino and Genovese families (though the Genoveses may have then shifted their support away from him). There’s also evidence of recognition through his interactions with figures from the Colombo, Luchese and Bufalino families:

- In the summer of 1992, Stanfa paid at least one visit to the home of Paolo Loduca in Long Island
- In 1995, Frederick Martens, former executive director of the Pennsylvania Crime Commission, said that Stanfa had the support of the Genovese and Gambino families
- Salvatore Profaci was sent to settle the dispute between Salvatore Avena and Carmine Franco over a waste haulage business between 1991 and 1992
- Profaci was aligned with the Orena faction of the Colombo family at that time
- Profaci noted that Michele Generoso was running the Genovese family for Vincent Gigante and had been put in charge of the problem
- William D’Elia was later sent by the Genovese family to help Profaci settle the dispute
- D’Elia and Profaci then convinced Avena to accept an offer made by the Genoveses
- Stanfa and Piccolo frequently attended the above meetings at Avena’s office
- It was then speculated that the Genovese family started backing the Ciancaglini-Merlino faction through Ralph Natale as a response to the trouble caused to them by the Avena-Franco dispute
- Giuseppe Gambino was observed at Avena’s office on 8 April 1992 with Stanfa and Piccolo, though surveillance failed to pick up their conversation
- Stanfa met with Tommaso Gambino a couple of times in 1993, asking for help in tracking down Biagio Adornetto and later to help recruit shooters from New York and Italy to combat the Ciancaglini-Merlino crew
- Gambino eventually sent word back to Stanfa that no outside help was available because everyone had too many problems of their own
- Thomas Rebbie met with Stanfa and D’Elia at a restaurant in Northeast Philadelphia about a week after the Frank Baldino murder to be congratulated for his role in the hit
- Sergio Battaglia told authorities that D’Elia was involved in a conspiracy to murder Philip Colletti and John Veasey
- Stanfa was unhappy with how Colletti and Veasey handled the Michael Ciancaglini murder and wanted to lure them to a meeting at Wilkes-Barre where they would be killed
- D’Elia would have the holes already dug so the bodies could be disposed of
- D’Elia was scheduled to attend a meeting on 16 March 1994 at an Italian restaurant called Pasta Blitz but failed to show because he believed he was being followed by law enforcement
- The meeting was scheduled to discuss how the family would be run in the event of Stanfa’s incarceration, with one source telling George Anastasia that D’Elia was Stanfa’s choice to run things

[chin_gigante]

Looking at things from Natale’s side points to the Gambinos withdrawing support from Stanfa as the conflict with the Ciancaglini-Merlino crew progressed (this could also perhaps explain Tommaso Gambino’s inability to send Stanfa help from out of town):


- When he was transferred to FCI Danbury on 16 March 1992, Natale was introduced to Vittorio Amuso through Vincent Zappola
- Natale claimed he had two or three weeks with Amuso though JD has pointed out Amuso was transferred from Danbury four days after Natale’s arrival
- Natale laid out his plans for Philadelphia and asked Amuso, if he had the chance, to check whether John Gotti had sent Stanfa to take over as boss
- Amuso would send any word to Zappola’s nephew, who would get the message back into Danbury
- While incarcerated at Danbury, Natale would receive visits from Michael Ciancaglini, Steven Mazzone and Gaetano Scafidi
- Natale noted that the Ciancaglini-Merlino crew hoped they could be recognised if they killed Stanfa but, ‘New York wasn’t recognising Philadelphia at all’
- In the interview in the Mugshots section, Michael DiLeonardo confirmed that Gotti instructed Gambino members to stay away from Philadelphia and not to recognise them
- DiLeonardo cited, among the reasons for Gotti’s decision, that Stanfa had inducted an ex-cop
- Ronald Previte wasn’t inducted until around late-1993 and Tommaso Gambino was still visiting Stanfa in June 1993, so it seems like Gotti officially withdrew support late into Stanfa’s reign
- In Last Don Standing, Natale provides some more details (obviously though, since it’s Natale, take things with a pinch of salt)
- In the book, Natale says that Amuso told him Stanfa could not be the boss of Philadelphia because the ‘new’ Commission (i.e. post-Commission Case) had decided that no mafiosi from Italy could become the head of a US family
- Natale claims that Stanfa had been made boss with just the approval of John Gambino, and that no-one from Philadelphia before Natale had thought to go and check whether this was legitimate
- Natale also says that Gotti eventually got back to him about Stanfa, saying ‘Who knows him?’
- While Natale was still incarcerated, Mazzone told him that Ronald Turchi sent $10,000 to Leonard DiMaria in a bid to be recognised as boss of the Philadelphia family
- Natale sent word back through Mazzone that if Turchi tried to become boss he would be killed
- In early 1995, George Anastasia wrote that Natale had become the boss with the approval of the Genovese family and the acquiescence of the Gambino family
- Early into his tenure, Natale met with members of the Gambino family who intervened on behalf of Joseph Ciancaglini Jr and Joseph Stanfa
- It was agreed that Ciancaglini and Stanfa would be spared on the condition that they be put on the shelf
- On 18 January 1996, Natale, Steven Mazzone and Tyrone DeNittis travelled from Cherry Hill to New York where they met D’Elia as well as Colombo members Andrew Russo, William Russo, and Thomas Gioeli
- Representatives of several families attended a party at Benjamin Franklin House in Philadelphia on 17 November 1996 to celebrate Merlino getting off supervised release
- In The Goodfella Tapes, Anastasia writes that members of the Gambino, Luchese and Bonanno families attended the above celebration
- D’Elia attended a party in Philadelphia on 14 March 1997 for Merlino’s birthday
- Early in 1998, word began to circulate that the incarcerated Scarfo had used his friendship with Amuso to put contracts on Natale, Merlino and Previte
- There was also word of a Luchese hit team sent to the Jersey Shore to kill Merlino
- Natale, Merlino and Previte were all warned by the FBI about the contracts
- On 10 March 1998, Previte recorded Natale talking about a report that implied Scarfo reached out to the Commission for approval
- Natale said, ‘There is no sitting Commission right now. There is nobody reaching out, and the biggest family in New York… is the Chin’s family […] The kid who runs it now told [Scarfo] there’s only one boss in Philadelphia and that’s Ralph Natale. And that’s where the fuck it’s at.’
- At one point, Natale also reached out and offered to make Scarfo Jr a captain in the Philadelphia family in charge of Atlantic City
- The Scarfos turned down Natale’s offer
- Peter Caprio testified that Natale had to okay any major decisions with the Genovese family
- Caprio served as Natale’s liaison with the Genoveses and did the same for Merlino after Natale was arrested
- Merlino asked the Genovese family, through Caprio, for approval to induct new members from Boston
- The Genovese family said no but Merlino inducted the Boston crew anyway

On Natale and Merlino falling out of favour in the late-1990s:

- Natale flipping embarrassed the Genoveses because they put him in as boss, and they had already lost respect for Merlino when he took over and stopped sending money Natale’s way
- As a result, the Gambino and Genovese families were not recognising Joseph Ligambi as acting boss
- Vito Alberti wanted to partner with Daniel D’Ambrosia in a video poker machine operation throughout Philadelphia and South Jersey but did not want to cut Ligambi in on it
- D’Ambrosia had put up the money for Natale to get in the video poker business, with this then leading to his introduction to Alberti through Peter Caprio
- Ligambi would not be willing to go along with Alberti and D’Ambrosia’s plan, so he had to be killed
- If they were going to take out Ligambi, it was decided they had to kill George Borgesi and Steven Mazzone too
- In fall 1999, Ligambi met with Caprio and asked to be introduced as acting boss to the New York families
- Using this introduction as a ploy, Caprio would lure Ligambi, Mazzone and Borgesi to Newark so they would be killed
- Vincent Centorino was looking for a warehouse where the meeting could take place and Raymond LePore was looking for a construction site to bury the bodies
- Caprio and D’Ambrosia would be the shooters, with the bodies being disposed of by Alberti and Anthony Proto
- The Gambinos and Genoveses would then be willing to recognise Caprio as boss of the family
- D’Ambrosia would be inducted and made Caprio’s underboss
- As Martin Angelina operated the video poker machine business in Philadelphia, he would be made the new consigliere
- Caprio’s plot obviously unravelled when he was arrested in 2000
- In fall 2002, a crew of associates under Lawrence Dentico began working a bookmaking operation out of an apartment in South Philadelphia
- Joseph Yeswita, answering to Dentico associate Joseph Scarbrough, ran the bookmaking operation and in December 2002 visited a ‘high-ranking member’ of the Philadelphia family to make a tribute payment
- The above would indicate that the Genoveses were back to recognising Philadelphia within a couple of years of the Caprio plot

[dack2001]

Chin, what do you have on Stanfa taking over with the nod from New York?

Hard to sift through the bluster from Natale. Stanfa made guy who gets down under Bruno. Close with Gambinos and Gambino family, obviously. Gotti gets a pass from Nicky Scarfo so Stanfa can come back safely out of prison in 87. Stanfa emerges as boss with push from Gotti and Gambinos. Scarfo accepts Stanfa as boss and Anthony Piccolo helps with the transition, probably with an agreement that a few personal income streams Scarfo had would stay with his son. So few guys on the street Sparacio openly props himself up for admin, when Stanfa initially is coming around to put things together. Stanfa makes Joe Chang and a few others and tries to put together what's left in South Philly. Little Felix takes over the shakes and gets killed.

[B.]

Wish Scafidi would do a Q&A here. Some thoughts:

- He says Tripodi was close to Stanfa because they were both from Italy. Tripodi was non-Sicilian while Stanfa was connected to the Sicilian mafia. We know Stanfa recruited random Italians/Sicilians in Philly, so Scafidi might well be right that Tripodi and Stanfa were friendly because they were both Italian-born, but I'm curious if Stanfa ever said anything about preferring Sicilians. Obviously the Sicilian/Calabrian factionalism was nonexistent by the 1990s and Stanfa had to recruit whoever he could.

- Scafidi's ancestors were leaders of the Philly family's old Sicilian faction -- was he aware of how deep his relatives went in the family? He came into the family under associate John Melilli and his brother Tory was brought around by Chucky Merlino, who both had eastern Sicilian heritage, not western, so ancestry seems to have played little role in them becoming involved with the family, though no doubt many older members knew their pedigree.

- What's the story with his father? Rocco Scafidi was not on speaking terms with his brother Salvatore's wife (daughter of Vineland capodecina Cheech Barrale) because she "ruined" her son "Tim" (ph -- probably "Tom"). Salvatore was Tommy's grandfather, so this is likely a reference to Gaetano Scafidi Sr., Tommy's father, who was a young adult when Rocco made this comment.

^ What does being "ruined" by the mother mean? Spoiled? Rocco Scafidi was a troublemaker and so was Tory, but they still got made. Riccobene felt Rocco and Salvatore Scafidi didn't deserve to be members and he said their other brother Andrew couldn't be a member because he was "sick in the head". Tommy's father must have been seriously "ruined" in terms of mafia candidacy given that both of his grandfathers, his great-uncle, father, uncle, second cousin, and both of his sons would all become members while he didn't.

--

Very good thread.

I'm a fan of revisiting everything because we can easily get stuck in a certain narrative and all it takes is one new piece of info to look at everything differently. Just when we think we know the recent history of Philly in the 1990s back and forth, we realize it's not so simple. Something to keep in mind especially when looking at the earlier decades where we have much less info.

[Rocco]

That was interesting, thanks for posting!

Stanfa was never the offical Boss? I though NY pushed for Stana to take over. Didn't Amuso say that he only acknowledged Scarfo as Boss? That might explain his position, if a Boss truly does rule for life.

I suppose the question of whether Stanfa's position as boss was official or not might end up more academic in nature than anything.

Scafidi definitely does describe Stanfa explicitly as the acting boss at one point in this interview, with the belief that he was picked by Piccolo with Scarfo's blessing. However, there isn't anything else to suggest that Stanfa's people considered him to only be the acting boss of the family. Certainly, it does not appear that Scarfo was considered to be above Stanfa during the 1990s and there isn't any indication that any other families (except, perhaps, the Lucheses) recognised Scarfo as the official boss after early 1991, when Stanfa is said to have officially taken over. The situation therefore might be closer to a Joseph Magliocco or Antonio Pollina deal, where an individual is placed in charge of a family awaiting formal approval by the Commission. However, the Commission in the early 1990s is a very different beast to the Commission of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

It's clear that the rival faction in the family didn't really consider Stanfa to be a legitimate boss. Natale considered himself the unofficial boss before he was even made, and Merlino was going around saying that he was the underboss and Michael Ciancaglini the boss by 1993. The Gambinos and Genoveses supported Natale for boss when he got out of prison (with it initially being incorrectly suspected that the Genoveses inducted him in 1994), and he later met with the Colombos, so that doesn't stack up well in Stanfa's case in terms of support and recognition from the other families. But at the same time, who really knows what would have happened if Stanfa was still on the street when Natale and Merlino got out. By the time they took over, Stanfa was looking at going away for the rest of his life and there really wasn't anyone else on the street who looked posed to take a leadership position (apart from Ronald Turchi briefly attempting to be named boss).

For all intents and purposes, Stanfa was the boss of the family in the early 1990s while the Commission was not in the same state as it was previously when it would firmly and clearly decide whether to recognise an interim boss as official rappresentante or tell a guy to get lost and pick someone else. This recognition business though is a tricky subject and I'll end my thoughts here rather than risk treading into territory that I'm less informed about.

I believe the Gambino's placed him in Philly as Official Boss. The Merlino faction just didn't accept it. Then the Genovese family places Natale as boss...and again..the Merlino faction did not accept that and played along till Natale finally figured out he was being played. I believe Stanfa had ties to the Gambino Zips and that's how he was placed there. From what I read Stanfa was afraid to meet with the Genovese Family for one he was afraid of them and still thought they were gonna kill him for the Bruno hit. After that hit he found refuge within the Gambino Zips I believe.

[Mikeyb211]

Good interview.. whos crew was Scafidi in? I assume he was around in the Scarfo days too .. he did not even broach talking bad about Joey or anyone on street currently

[chin_gigante]

Chin, what do you have on Stanfa taking over with the nod from New York?

Taking early 1991 as the point where Stanfa becomes boss, the best indicators to figure out how it happened are (as I see it) the state of the Philadelphia family, the wider state of LCN at that time and the meetings that were observed taking place.

By that point Scarfo was still waiting on the appeal for the D’Alfonso murder but that effectively no longer mattered because his appeal for the RICO case had been rejected and that was enough to keep him in jail for the rest of his life. Scarfo had previously prohibited the induction of new members while he was incarcerated (with an exemption made for the 1990 ceremony on the condition that no-one from Philadelphia or South Jersey would be inducted) because he felt it would be conceding defeat on the issue of him ever coming home. So Scarfo was clearly going to spend the rest of his life in prison and was hindering attempts to rebuild the family.

The Scafidi interview now paints a picture of Scarfo approving Stanfa as the new boss (or possibly as acting boss) after being picked by Piccolo. However, later attempts to prop up a Scarfo Jr coup in the late-1990s and again in the late-2000s would indicate that Scarfo was less than happy about handing over the reins. The presence of Piccolo in the Stanfa administration, however, may have placated Scarfo while it was still deemed unsafe for his son to return and face the Ciancaglini-Merlino crew.

Another interesting factor here could be the extent of Piccolo’s role in backing Stanfa – particularly whether he wanted him as another acting boss or to fully replace Scarfo. Perhaps the perception of Stanfa as sharing his low-key, old-timer mentality overrode any familial loyalty to his cousin (and there were, of course, previous tensions between Scarfo and the Piccolos). Piccolo was also participating in conversations in Avena’s office where he would criticise flashier mob guys, once recalling he warned Scarfo that he had a bunch of cowboys around him.

There was also a limited amount of options to select from in choosing a replacement for Piccolo as head of the family. The Pennsylvania Crime Commission reported that the most active members of the family as of 1990 were Piccolo, Joseph Licata, John Grande, Anthony Pungitore, Santo Romeo, Joseph Scalleat, Joseph Sodano, and Salvatore Sparacio. Piccolo, Licata, and Sodano were all under indictment at that time and, along with Sparacio, went on to fill leadership positions under Stanfa. Here’s what I have on some other candidates considered to lead the family at that time:

- Licata suspected that Ralph Napoli was behind the attempt on Scarfo Jr and wanted to become boss himself. As a result, Licata wanted permission to kill Napoli, but Piccolo refused. The beef between Licata and Napoli then carried over into the early part of Stanfa’s reign, by which point Napoli was said to be increasingly senile.

- Sparacio wanted Piccolo to stay on as boss with himself as underboss and Stanfa as consigliere. Stanfa, however, shot Sparacio’s plan down, noting he had no right to appoint himself underboss.

- When it became clear that Piccolo wanted to stand down, the incarcerated Joseph Ciancaglini reportedly tried to get his son Joseph in as acting boss. Joey Chang obviously was not a member at this time, being brought in at the first ceremony held by Stanfa in November 1991 and later promoted to underboss. According to Natale and Scafidi, Michael Ciancaglini was beefing with his father as well as his brother during the conflict with Stanfa. After the attempt on Joey Chang, conversations in Avena’s office indicated the elder Ciancaglini switched sides and was now backing Michael. In 1993, the Indiana Gazette reported that Ciancaglini had reached out to Anthony Salerno in prison on behalf of the Ciancaglini-Merlino crew.

Therefore, there wasn’t much in terms of competition (outside of the Ciancaglini-Merlino crew) for Stanfa to overcome to become boss. His relative youth (compared to the remaining members on the street) and his connections to the Sicilian Mafia and Gambino family would also be contributing factors to his selection as boss. As discussed before, his old-timer mentality also helped him secure the backing of influential long-time members like Piccolo.

When looking at Stanfa’s transition to boss, it’s also important to get an accurate view of the functionality of the Commission at that time (early 1991), so here’s what I have on the Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Luchese families at that time:

- Victor Orena is the official acting boss of the Colombos. However, by the time of the dispute between Avena and Carmine Franco, the Colombo family has split, and Salvatore Profaci is aligned with the Orena faction.

- Vittorio Amuso and Anthony Casso are on the lam to avoid indictment on the Windows Case, leaving Alfonso D’Arco as acting Luchese boss. Amuso is jailed mid-1991 and later has four days in FCI Danbury with Ralph Natale in March 1992.

- Vincent Gigante has been indicted in the Windows Case and has installed an acting administration consisting of Liborio Bellomo, Michele Generoso and James Ida to run the Genovese family.

- John Gotti, Salvatore Gravano and Frank LoCascio are incarcerated at the MCC in Manhattan to await trial. John Gotti Jr is on a panel running the day-to-day operations of the family.

Despite the significant legal disruption caused to its members, the Commission was, however, still actively involved in installing heads of families outside of New York around this time. In a memorandum from 1996 to establish Gigante’s mental state, it is alleged that in 1990, the Genovese and Colombo families selected a new administration for the New England family. Bellomo and Ida travelled to Boston with Orena to make the selection official. D’Arco was also invited to attend as a representative of the Luchese family but turned it down.

The dispute between Avena and Franco and the resulting meetings that took place from 1991 to 1992 are the best indicator that the Genovese family acknowledged Stanfa’s leadership (at least for a while). I haven’t found any indication that Stanfa personally met with any Genovese people at this time (though obviously that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen) or that any Genovese people came down to Avena’s office for meetings. However, the situation was delegated to the Genovese acting underboss and they sent representatives from two different families to try and work things out with Avena. William D’Elia’s participation in those meetings and his continued visits to Stanfa are strong indicators that the Bufalino family recognised Philadelphia’s administration at that time. Salvatore Profaci’s visits could indicate that at least the Orena faction of the Colombo family recognised Stanfa as well. Stanfa and Piccolo themselves were also taped discussing the need for Avena to settle things and avoid creating conflict with the Genovese family.

I also looked into Natale’s claim that it was John Gambino who approved Stanfa as boss and it seems somewhat plausible. By early 1991, Gambino was under house arrest with an electric monitoring bracelet, though this bracelet was turned off during permitted periods to allow Gambino to leave his home to work, visit his attorneys, attend religious ceremonies, and keep medical appointments, on the condition that he submit a weekly schedule of his movements. In mid-1992 though, the government discontinued electronic monitoring of Gambino as the permitted black-out periods rendered it ineffective as a means of surveillance. Gambino was also permitted to meet with preapproved visitors at his home during this period. Gambino went on the lam on 31 August 1992 until he was arrested in Florida on 17 September. So Gambino was still on the street at that point while Gotti was behind bars. Giuseppe and Tommaso Gambino’s visits to Avena’s office also point to the strong ties between Stanfa and the Sicilian Gambinos. His asking Tommaso for help on two different occasions also backs up the frequently made claim that the Gambinos were backing him. The question then would be how conceivable is it that a captain in a New York family could approve the new boss of the Philadelphia family? Well, looking at another of Natale’s claims, Ronald Turchi then figured he could become the boss of Philadelphia by sending $10,000 to Leonard DiMaria while Natale was still in prison. That plan obviously didn’t work, but both this instance and the Stanfa-Gambino claim took place while the official administration of the Gambino family was incarcerated. I can't say for certain but one question comes to my mind: is it possible that John Gambino’s okay was enough to secure the top spot for Stanfa until things came to a head and Gotti officially stopped recognising Philadelphia, as both Natale and Michael DiLeonardo have said?

If, as Natale claims, Stanfa did not have the official backing and recognition of Gotti and Amuso, did he instead have the official backing of the Colombos and Genoveses? Perhaps the more important question is simply about the Genoveses due to the trouble the Colombos would get into in the next couple of years. Were these meetings in Avena’s office evidence of official recognition on the part of the Genovese family? Would it be if Genovese members personally attended? The beef, after all, originated from Franco ripping Avena off and Avena responding by filing a lawsuit. Is it possible the Genoveses responded to this simply out of necessity because of the trouble they were being caused rather than out of recognition of Philadelphia’s leadership? It’s also interesting that they sent Profaci to mediate with at a time when they were unofficially siding with the Persico loyalists – perhaps that factors in, perhaps it doesn’t. Were the Genoveses simply agnostic about Stanfa before deciding to back Natale and Merlino?

I’m also concerned about reading too much into these meetings. After all, Stanfa met at least once with Paolo Loduca in Long Island, so does that mean that he was recognised by the Luchese family? Natale’s recollection of his conversations with Amuso would indicate he was not. The more I think about this, the more questions I have. Is it possible that Stanfa became boss not through formal recognition from the Commission but rather through the support of a loose coalition of Sicilians and old-timers spread out across several families? Was this enough to secure the top spot at a point in the early-1990s when the Commission had enough problems of its own to deal with it officially? I suspect I'll be thinking more about this as time goes on.

[chin_gigante]

Good interview.. whos crew was Scafidi in? I assume he was around in the Scarfo days too .. he did not even broach talking bad about Joey or anyone on street currently

Crew placement is difficult to determine under Stanfa. Scafidi is inducted November 1993, by which point Vincent Pagano, Salvatore Sparacio, Luigi Tripodi and John Veasey are all identified as captains in the Philadelphia/ South Jersey area. Confirmed active soldiers aligned with Stanfa (excluding North Jersey) around that point are Scafidi, Sergio Battaglia, Raymond Esposito, Vincent Filipelli, Giuseppe Gallara, Ronald Previte and Joseph Stanfa. The top-heavy nature of it makes it difficult to think of in terms of traditional crews.

[chin_gigante]

Wish Scafidi would do a Q&A here. Some thoughts [...]

I'd also be very interested in seeing a more in-depth interview with Scafidi. I think the anonymity actually harms it because they will obviously shy away from any identifying details like his induction and family history. Seems a bit pointless anyway when anyone who knows anything about what's happened can tell it's Scafidi within 2 seconds. I'd love to find out what he knows about his lineage and some nuts-and-bolts stuff about procedures under Stanfa (who he was assigned to, anyone else he was inducted with, any interactions with other families, how the structure works when the family appears to be so top heavy, how the old-timers were involved...)